As part of maintaining your reef tank, there is the need to use the reef salt more often. The reef salt is important for introducing the important compounds needed by the corals to grow and become better.
Different types of best salt for reef tanks exist today, so it is important to pick the best from the many. With many models available, it is common that you get confused with all of them claiming to be the best at what they do.
To help you with making up your mind, we get to review some of the best reef salt types in this guide for you to get started.
Table of Contents
What is the best reef salt mix?
The question of what is the best reef salt mix is common in many forums. There you will get many people having their opinions on what makes the reef salt mix. What is important is that you get to understand the building blocks of the best mix.
The first thing to keep in mind when checking out the reef salt mix will be product brands. All the brands will have a label that shows what to expect from the sea salt that you are choosing. The composition of the salt will also be shown on the label. The composition can vary widely from brand to brand, but sometimes you can get one common ingredient too. With the varying composition, the salt mix will also have to vary from one brand to another.
If you are going to end up with the perfect mix, there are a few things that you have to consider for making your decision. The common parameters to consider all brands include the amount of calcium, magnesium, and the alkalinity.
The calcium compound is the most important component you can ever get in the reef salt. It is important for corals and other types of invertebrates for building their skeletons. The common concentration recommended for the results is at 400ppm. The PPM means part per million.
Magnesium is another important mineral to have in the reef water. It is often seen to the most abundant trace mineral found in saltwater. Magnesium will work with calcium to help in balancing the alkalinity of the aquarium water. The concentration is recommended to be at 1250 ppm.
The alkalinity is going to affect the pH level of the reef tank. With the addition of the salt, you can expect that the water would be more alkaline. You have to consider the alkalinity to make sure you understand just how much bicarbonates are in the water. You might have to adjust the alkalinity where possible. The alkalinity for the saltwater aquarium is recommended to be at 8 – 11 dkh.
Now, back to the question. From the details above, you want to have calcium in the range of 400 ppm, magnesium 1250 to 1400 ppm, and alkalinity kept between 8 to 11 for the salt mix.
Best reef salt on the market
| Picture | Model | For Aquariums | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Instant Ocean Reef Crystals Reef Salt | All LPS and SPS corals | |
 | Red Sea Fish Pharm ARE11230 Coral Pro Marine Salt for Aquarium | All LPS and SPS corals Recommended for growing out SPS coral frags | |
 | Aquaforest Reef Salt | All LPS and SPS corals | |
 | Kent Marine AKMKSS150 Sea Reef Salt Mix Jug | All LPS and SPS corals |
Reef Salt review
1. Instant Ocean Reef Crystals Reef Salt
There is so much you can achieve by getting to use this type of reef salt. It is specially formulated to be the best synthetic sea salt that you can get for yourself right now. It is the reason you can easily find it being used for both the hard and soft corals. It has impressive features and benefits such as adding calcium, vitamins, magnesium, and trace elements to the water. You still get some special additives important for detoxifying the harmful heavy metal such as copper that might be dissolved in the water.
The presence of calcium is important for the growth of the large and small stony corals. The same goes for the coralline algae. The reason you need calcium is that the hard corals would remove the dissolved calcium as they grow. This calls for the need to add more calcium to supplement the one that would have been taken up by the corals. This is done through using the reef salt containing the calcium additive.
Thanks to the impressive quality of the salt, we get to see it having a rapid rate of dissolving while showing the same characteristics of the natural seawater. The mixture will also not separate while being kept in the bag or box for a long time. This is great to ensure that the salt still works great as expected by the user. The chemical formula will remain uniform despite the production date so that it can remain healthy the next time you get to use it.
The use of this salt type helps a lot in matching up to the majority of the ions in the natural seawater. Some of the ions might be prevalent in the salt as they might have been lost over time from the aquarium. Having the low levels of organic carbon helps in preventing the growth of some bacteria and algae in the aquarium.
Pros
- It has low organic carbon levels
- It does not separate even after storing for a long time
- Referenced often in scientific papers
- Trusted synthetic sea salt
Cons
- Tends to leave white residue in the tank
2. Red Sea Fish Pharm ARE11230 Coral Pro Marine Salt for Aquarium
If you want the coral life to remain in its top condition, then you need to get the right type of reef salt. As for this coral pro salt, you will find yourself liking it due to the many benefits that it has to offer. The salt is often used in reef aquariums to help in encouraging accelerated growth of the corals. With a few weeks of using the salt, you should see that there has been an improvement in the vitality of the corals in your aquarium.
This salt type comes with the right ratio combination between the calcium, carbonates, and magnesium compounds in the reef salt. This right combination will ensure that the corals get the best compounds important for having them to grow efficiently. With all corals having built their skeletons for absorbing the minor, major and the trace elements, it should be easy for them to get all the right compounds from the salt easily once it has been dissolved in the water.
This reef salt is often considered as one of the best by many for providing the basis for having accelerated healthy growth of the corals. This works for the different types of corals such as the soft, SPS, and LPS corals. If you have SPS coral frags, then this is the best salt you can always get for yourself today. The salt comes in a 175-gallon bucket. This should be enough to provide enough supply of salt to your aquarium.
Pros
- Paramount ratio between compounds
- It offers accelerated healthy growth
- It works for different types of aquariums
- It comes in enough quantity
Cons
- Tends to contaminate easily if not properly stored
3. Aquaforest Reef Salt
This is a fully synthetic marine salt that has been created for the cultured corals. The formula is important for making sure that it provides the best conditions for the marine life in the reef aquarium. The reef salt comes with macronutrients and micronutrients all contained in one formula. The work of such nutrients is to fulfill the demand of most marine life that demand proper growth while in the reef aquarium.
The best part is that once the salt has been dissolved, you can use the marine water immediately without having to wait for any additional hours like other salt types. It is even recommended that you can place the first animals in the tank after 10 days. This for those who are setting up the new aquariums.
The salt is made to be bromide free, meaning that you have the option of using a wide range of filtration systems for the marine water. However, you are advised to the reef salt filtration systems if you want to maintain the water. Thanks to its compounds, the salt has been seen to be great for more demanding types of corals such as the SPS and the LPS corals.
Even if the model does come with the probiotic bacteria or any other growth media, it will still work as expected. The manufacturer made it to be nitrate and phosphate free so that the toxins can be kept at a minimum when it comes to using the same type of salt. By using this type of reef salt, you can always expect more benefits for your reef, so go ahead, and try it out today.
Pros
- It comes with a stable pH
- It easily mixes
- It is bromide free
- It is made to be nitrate and phosphate free
4. Kent Marine AKMKSS150 Sea Reef Salt Mix Jug
This type of salt has been formulated to come with elevated levels of calcium, strontium, magnesium, and other important elements needed for a reef tank. These important essentials are important for making sure that there is proper growth of the coral. You might have seen some of the other types of salts promising the same, but this one for sure will deliver on your needs for the best salt. You will see some of the best results in no time once you have used the reef salt for your aquarium.
The compounds are not the only things that you get with the use of this type of reef salt. It has been designed to help skeletal structure development of the coral reef. This in turn should help in boosting the reef vitality. The 50-gallon size should be sufficient to help in keeping your tank with enough reef salt all the time.
Pros
- It has elevated levels of important elements
- It offers essentials for proper coral growth
- It helps with skeletal structure development
Cons
- It takes a while to see differences
Reef salt vs marine salt
When these two are compared, the reef salt is seen to have elevated levels of calcium, iodide, and magnesium concentrations than the marine salt. There are still some similarities such as both types of salt will not test for nitrate, as the nitrate levels are negligible.
What is the best reef salt to use?
If you are new to buying reef salt for your aquarium, then you should opt for the Instant Ocean Reef Crystals Reef salt. This type of salt comes from a top brand when it comes to making the top rated reef salt for using in an aquarium tank. The salt is further made to feature more important compounds such as calcium that is important for promoting the large and small corals easily. You will always get the best coralline algae development. The manufacturer also included the trace elements that will ensure vigorous growth of the corals. With the metal detoxifiers also used in the salt, you can be sure that the heavy metals found in the domestic water supply will be easily removed.
How much reef salt per litre?
This is going to vary from one brand to another, but in most cases, you will get that it is 35g per litre of RO water. You can always check the label for the recommendations from the manufacturer.
How to mix reef salt?
The first thing you will have to do is get yourself the best sea salt for your aquarium. You can easily buy from a store near you that sells aquarium related stuff. Most of the time, you are going to get the dry synthetic reef salt so that you can mix with water.
Next is to gather all the necessary supplies for the work. You will need to use water for your mixing. This calls for chooses the deionized water for the process. You can only use tap water if the quality of the water is excellent. You can always purchase the deionized water from a store close to you. Additional supplies for the process include having a clean bucket, submersible heater, stirring tool, hydrometer, and a floating thermometer.
Fill the container with deionized water and add salt in the right amount as directed by the manufacturer. Each manufacturer would offer information on how much water can be used to dissolve a certain amount of salt. Let the mixed saltwater settle overnight before you can add it to your aquarium.
Conclusion
Keeping the reef aquarium within the conditions helps a lot when it comes to making sure that you have the best corals in your tank. Now that you know more about the best reef aquarium salt, go ahead and choose one for your aquarium. Make sure that you understand the composition of each type of salt before buying. Having the right type of composition helps a lot with choosing the best salt for your marine aquarium. Within a few weeks of using the right reef salt, you should be in a position to see some differences. The differences mean that your corals look even lively and better.
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